Personal vaporizers, such as electronic cigarettes, vaping or vape devices, and commercially known atomizers, cartomizers and clearomizers, have become very popular in the last few years. Many of these devices operate as a battery-powered vaporizer that includes a mouth piece, and in one design, a rebuildable device or deck, a juice or e-liquid that is vaporized, and a heating element or similar atomizer, which is activated by a switch. The heating element is typically a heating coil and heats and vaporizes the vaping juice. A wicking material helps draw the juice or liquid onto the coil such as from a well or fluid tank that holds the juice. In some devices, the user manually depresses a button on the side of the housing or at the end or bottom of the device to close the switch and actuate a contact button or “firing pin” or other contact device to complete the circuit between the battery and the atomizer.
The vaporizer designs currently in use vary and recent design modifications include mechanical “mods,” for example, that may have a rebuildable atomizer deck that allows a user to assemble or “build” the wick and coil themselves, instead of using off-the-shelf atomizer “heads.” These types of devices are often termed a rebuildable dripping atomizer (RDA), or sometimes referred to as a “dripper.” Experienced users of these designs enjoy building their atomizers because they can choose a specific configuration and electrical resistance of their coil, and thus, pick their flavor and the amount of aerosolized vapor produced by the electronic cigarette.
There are other devices commercially known as atomizers, cartomizers and clearomizers that may also screw on a battery housing or power supply to deliver the E-juice or E-liquid as a vaping fluid to be atomized in a vapor form. Those skilled in the art recognize atomizers as typically having a small capacity for those that prefer dripping and allow easy switching between different flavors of juices. Many have a heating coil on the bottom and a metal mesh on the top of the coil, but others may use as silica wick. The cartomizers, on the other hand, sometimes have a polyfill wrapped around a heating coil that soaks the vaping fluid and allows for a longer vape time compared to an atomizer. They sometimes have a larger cylindrical tank. The clearomizers are usually cylindrical and have clear polycarbonate plastic or Pyrex glass tank as a fluid tank so that the user may see the level of vaping fluid or E-juice inside the clearomizer as the vaping device. The vapor fluid is delivered to a heating coil by the silica wick. Some of these designs may have a heating coil with longer wicks and others have a bottom placed heating coil with short wicks that allow for easier wick saturation. Some models are rebuildable with replaceable coils.
In another design variation, different vaping devices may be regulated or unregulated “mods.” The unregulated mods do not contain a circuit board for regulating power flow through the device. An example is a mechanical mod, or a series of parallel box mods without a display or variable voltage and wattage, and sometimes semi-mechanical mods. A regulated mod, on the other hand, contains a circuit board or a chip or processor to regulate the current and sometimes voltage. Devices that have a variable voltage or wattage setting are considered regulated devices. Regulated devices typically have increased safety, ease of use, digital display, and other benefits.
With the rise of many users becoming more health conscious and desiring medicinal or botanical extracts such as cannabinoids, there is a need for improved vaping devices as vaporizers that can deliver botanical extracts in an efficient, safe manner, and even as single use, disposable devices, which would be especially useful with medicinal products, cannabinoids and other botanical extracts. There are design considerations that must be taken into consideration since the vaping fluids from a botanical extract, such as derived from cannabis, is very thick or viscous compared to a traditional vaping fluid. These thicker vaping fluids from botanical extracts, for example, do not flow as easily as a traditional vaping fluid. If a thicker vaping fluid is used, it often settles in juice tanks or fluid reservoirs having planar configured bottom floors or surfaces and tends to accumulate against 90° corners, making the last remnants of the juice inaccessible for use. With very expensive botanical extracts as a vaping fluid, such as a cannabinoid, it is necessary to use the entire stored botanical extract, i.e., every drop contained in the reservoir, since there is such a high cost of producing that specialized vaping mix.
Another drawback of many conventional vaping devices as vaporizers is when they are used with botanical extracts, those extracts may be subject to oxidation. Because almost all vape devices are easily refillable, if a very expensive botanical extract is stored within the juice tank or reservoir for a period of time, it may oxidize over time and be unusable. Also, a botanical extract as a vaping fluid often requires higher temperatures to vaporize the extract, as compared to the more traditional vaping fluids. Additionally, because many vaping devices as vaporizers are refillable, they can be messy to refill, and often there is some spillage of the vaping fluid, which is impractical if the vaping fluid is formed from an expensive botanical extract such as a cannabinoid. Thus, because most known vaping devices as vaporizers are refillable and not sealed against oxidation, the use of such devices could create problems where an expensive botanical extract forming the vaping fluid could be subject to oxidation or spilled, and thus, wasted.